Take a look above. Have you ever seen what the original Facebook looked like? Now Trailhead Tea is finally replacing our original do-it-yourself sites with a new and more modern combined website & webstore. Here's why.

Many of you that have visited and talked with us know that both of our previous careers were in IT (and now we are just in TEA... ba-dum-tss). When Eileen and I started the tea shop, we put all our energy into our customers having so many choices, smelling the aromas, tasting & testing, then talking, sharing & learning about tea. Maybe customers will discuss their favorite tea with other customers? We joked that we would be the ultimate brick & mortar, the anti-virtual environment, as far from IT we could get.

Well, then there was that reality about the Mac-based point-of-sale system, and Eileen insisting that there should be "some" website that explained our location and store hours. A couple of years later we understood the need for a webstore, at least as a convenience to our customers restocking favorites when it's not possible to visit Arizona's red rocks. Both sites were very bare-bones and it was always confusing that our customers had to remember a different site to go, since it was all so do-it-yourself.

Well today it is finally time to modernize and you are viewing the result. Hopefully more convenient, one-stop complete, and enjoyable to use. I have updated and included more tea descriptions, photos and links - with more to come. You have the ability to save your favorites/wish list, share a review/comment of a specific tea, and view your previous orders. What doesn't change is safe shopping, confidential customer info, and no saving of credit cards. We will continue to keep emails at a minimum, and now can use this blog to share our thoughts and ideas about tea. I have to admit that I've really enjoyed customizing this new site, but that doesn't mean I'm going back to IT.

I've done a significant amount of testing, but I'm sure a few adjustments await. Bottom line: Is it easy and enjoyable to use? Please use the comments section below... What do you think?